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Hello, I ran in February my sixth Tokyo Marathon. We flew in from Hong Kong on Friday, picked up the race pack on Saturday and then get prepared for race day.

We stayed in Shinjuku area, next to the departure line, in a big hotel. We had a great sushi party with a friend on Saturday evening in our favourite place in Kagurazaka. We had lots of fish specialties and tasted way too many sakes. What a great party. May be not the best way to prepare the race! Anyway, as I raced Hong Kong hilly marathon three weeks earlier, my only goal was to finish and have fun.

I met my friends from Namban Rengo at the usual meeting place next to the Shinjuku park and had a Starbuck coffee to wake up my neurons. I saw the usual crew and they were really ready for top performances. Good to see them! I then headed to the back of the pack for the long waiting time (about 1 hour before the start time). I had a secret weapon: a 100 yen full cover plastic jacket. It saved me from the rain and the cold. I was tempted to throw it away but I was happy to have from kilometer 33 onward for the long walk to the finish line.

Here are the splits: many errors but I was tired 😉

1k: 5’10″59 but i forgot to start the watch so add 2′.

5k: 34’02″11 including pit stop at Ichigaya

6k: 8’02″18

7k: 7’14″63 YMCA team still rocking

8k: 7’22″26

9k: 7’24″82

10k: 7’34″71

11k: 8’00″44

12k: 10’09″41

13k: 5’35″78 Missed the 12k mark

14k: 7’53″12

15k: 8’15″07 Turn around at Shinagawa

16k: 10’14″31

17k: 6’26″27 Missed the 16k mark

18k: 9’00″12 Pit stop at Shiba park

19k-20k: 18’00″12 Move to 9′ plus km

21k: 9’21″53

22k: 7’57’02 Ginza makes you run faster

24k: 19’42″71 but you pay the price later

25k: 8’57″68

26k: 10’40″89

27k: 9’27″32 New Sky Tree tower views

28k: 11’31″72 Taking pictures at Asakusa

29k: 9’20″07

30k: 9’21″20

31k: 9’21″11 Almost same time

32k: 10’02″73

33k: 10’07″04

34k: 10’06″10

35k: 9’51″77 Passed 35k cut off by 10 minutes

36k: 10’55’86

37k: 10’26″39

38k: 11’06″31

39k: 12’31″97 Can I go slower?

40k: 10’11″62

41k: 9’45″47

42k: 7’00″04 <– fastest kilometer of the day

42.195K: 1’31″09

Total of 6h20’44 seconds on the watch.

Note to myself: have a great sushi bar after the race, sleep well ahead of the race, don’t double Hong Kong and Tokyo in February if I go for time, train hard to improve core strength to maintain speed below 8′.